


The Family You Build

by SonglordsBug



Series: Darcy of SHIELD [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Darcy Lewis is Phil Coulson's sister, Gen, Headcanon, SHIELD Family, it takes a secret organization to raise a Darcy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 04:57:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16926918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonglordsBug/pseuds/SonglordsBug
Summary: When Phil Coulson ended up with custody of his baby sister, all of the SHIELD higher ups ended up pitching in and helping him raise Darcy.





	The Family You Build

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposting from stumblr

Phil is Darcy’s older brother, and in a lot of ways that they don’t talk about, her father figure since her only memories of their father are of things Phil’s told her. But more than that, Phil is her hero.

He raised her to believe in heroes and while he idolizes Captain America, the Cap of legend doesn’t compare at all to Phil. With him she is safe and loved and she knows that if she needs him he will drop everything to come to her. In return, she is Phil’s touchstone, his reminder that the world is a hard place but that he can and does make a difference.

Clint registers as some odd combination of secondary parental figure and best friend. He came into Darcy’s life at a point when she’d grown lonely and unsatisfied surrounded by adults, they loved her of course, but she was a little girl to them and that affected their relationships.

Clint took her as she was, and for someone who grew up way too fast, had a remarkable ability to drop down to her level while treating her like an equal. That doesn’t change the fact that he is much older than her and fell in line with the taking care of her and helping raise her dynamic that the rest of their group had.

Darcy is the sister Natasha never had in the other Black Widows. And Darcy is completely content to accept Natasha as the older sister she didn’t know she needed. They met as Darcy was hitting puberty and realizing that she was a girl and that they did things differently than boys.

And Darcy had no one to guide her with this because the other two women in her life, Maria and Melinda, both preferred to ignore the softer, prettier, sides to being a girl. So while Natasha will be first to make sure that Darcy can take care of herself, she also is secretly delighted to show Darcy all the girly things that Darcy doesn’t know how to use.

Nick is Phil’s best friend. He is, in Darcy’s words “her Dread Pirate Bastard”. He is incredibly fond of her, and very protective, but she knows this doesn’t take away from the fact that if she has the right abilities for a situation he won’t hesitate to manipulate and use her as he sees fit. She respects that, but it doesn’t keep her from being sassy and backtalking him, and she’s always prepared to hit him or tazer him if she thinks he deserves it.

Maria was the first of the terrifying Shield ladies to take Darcy under her wing. She showed Darcy the strength it takes to be the one who goes over every plan and looks for weak points and then stand up in front of the world and speak up about any mistakes.

Maria is her first crush, and Darcy will spend the rest of her life looking up to her. Maria doesn’t know what to make of Darcy’s crush, and does her best to ignore, but she takes great pleasure in watching Darcy grow and learn and develop her own way of taking the world by storm.

When Darcy is little, Melinda is fun. She plays pranks and she laughs and lives. She saves lives and takes down the bad guys with unrestrained ferocity. Darcy wants to be Melinda when she grows up. After Bahrain, after the Cavalry, after Phil tells her to let the girl go, Darcy still wants to be Melinda when she grows up.

Melinda takes comfort in the fact that Darcy  is the only one who doesn’t treat her any different after. The girl still comes to find her and chatters at her. Still begs for lessons on whatever skill she’s honing. Still expects to have fun and be amused by Melinda. She doesn’t look at Melinda and worry, doesn’t regret how Melinda has changed, doesn’t mask disappointment that Melinda has become a paper-pusher. And so Darcy is the recipient of more of Melinda’s quiet smiles than anyone else.

Jasper has nieces. He doesn’t see them very often because keeping his distance keeps them safe, but he has them, and he adores them. This means that when Shield gets its own little lady, he is one of the most equipped to deal with her, and he is in the right place to enjoy a little girl and the things she enjoys.

When she complains about how Snow White and Aurora and Cinderella all let things happen and don’t do anything, about how there are never girls in the good stories, or if there are they need rescuing, Jasper produces other options. He brings Camelot and she is delighted by the female knight and her blind companion. He helps her read Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Darcy spends months dreaming about running away to be a dragon’s princess.

He will even, on occasion do things like play dress up with her. (Maria may or may not have several pictures documenting a very solemn princess tea party attended by Darcy, Jasper, and Clint, that she keeps saved somewhere for blackmail purposes and days when she needs a reminder to smile.)

When the Avengers eventually find out about Darcy’s background and one of them, probably Tony who couldn’t use tact to save his life, commented on her lack of family, Darcy looked around the room at the mix of people happily living together and smiled and said “Sometimes the family you build is lots more important than the family you’re born to.”


End file.
